Acoustic Guitar Pedal
6 Easy Steps To Tune A Guitar
You finally bought your acoustic guitar, you’re learning a few chords, and you won’t let your guitar out of your sight. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? But it’s not such a great feeling when your your guitar doesn’t sound right and you realize that your beautiful guitar is going out of tune. Now you realize that you need to learn one more vital trick as a guitarist: tuning!
Tuning simply means adjusting each string of your guitar (using the tuning pegs on the head) so that they produce the correct note. If you are using the standard guitar tuning, you will adjust your strings to these notes: E-A-D-G-B-E. That is, the thickest string (at the top of your fretboard) should be producing an E. The next string should be an A, and etc. Some other time we can talk about fun variations of guitar tunings.
To correctly tune your strings to the correct pitch, you need to hear the correct note as a guide. No surprise there! But where do you get this pitch? Any instrument or tool that is already in tune can provide you with a “reference pitch.” You could use a piano or another guitar, or you could go old-school and use a pitch pipe or tuning fork. You can even find a few tools online that will give you a reference pitch to work with. The only problem with using a reference pitch to tune by ear is that it requires a more developed ear and can be challenging for the beginner. While it’s important to develop your ear so that you can hear slight differences in pitch, there is a quick, painless approach to make your guitar sound beautiful again.
The trick is to use an electronic guitar tuner! A guitar tuner recognizes which note you are playing and shows you if it is sharp (high) or flat (low) of the desired pitch. If you are tuning an acoustic guitar, the tuner will use a built-in microphone to detect the sound coming from the guitar. Many tuners have an input jack so that you can use a 1/4″ cable to connect a guitar with an electric pick-up (either acoustic or electric guitar) for more exact tuning.There are endless styles and types of tuners, from guitar pedal tuners to clip on tuners. No matter what kind of tuner you purchased, learning to use it is pretty easy. Follow these simple steps to tune your guitar.
1. Make sure the tuner is on. Most tuners can run on a few small batteries, but some use a power cord.
2. When utilizing a tuner’s microphone to tune an acoustic guitar, position the tuner close enough to clearly detect the sound. If your guitar and tuner setup enable you to plug-in with a cable, go ahead and plug-in now.
3. Chose the mode. If the tuner has a chromatic setting it will automatically detect the note closest to the one you are playing. This is good, so long as you keep in mind the pitch you are wanting to find. For example, if you are trying to tune to an A2 but you are off by a whole step, the tuner may accurately indicate that you’re in-tune; only problem is that you are in-tune to the wrong note. You should tune your guitar to these pitches, from lowest to highest: E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4. Your tuner may allow you to use a specific guitar or bass mode. This mode will only indicate if your strings are in tune with the standard tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E).
4. Start with the lowest string on your guitar and strum it firmly with your thumb or a pick.
5. As the tuner registers the note it will signal (on screen, by lights, or both) whether your string is sharp (#) or flat (b) of the proper pitch. Adjust the string using the tuning peg on the guitar head. Tightening the string will raise the pitch and loosening the string will lower the pitch. (Tighten the string when you are flat; if it says you are sharp, loosen the string.)
6. Rinse and repeat for each string!
When you are done tuning all of your strings go through all of them quickly one more time. As you adjust each string, the tension on the neck of your guitar changes, which affects the tension of the other strings. This means the first string may fall slightly out of tune by the time you finish with the last one. Don’t fret though–you won’t have to make such major adjustments this time through.Now that your guitar is in tune, you can enjoy its beautiful sound once again. Have fun!
About the Author
Ryan has played acoustic and bass guitar for 10 years and runs a blog dedicated to guitar tuners. To find advice to buy a guitar tuner, visit his website bestguitartuners.com.
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